a world of café stories

Blue Bottle Coffee Shinjuku, Tokyo

By KENNY MAH and CK LIM

Every time we visit Tokyo, we are drawn to the Shinjuku neighbourhood. Millions of people moving around, on the streets, in buildings and, of course, in the non-stop network of rail and subway. Little wonder that the Shinjuku station is the busiest train station in the world (used by an average of 3.64 million people per day, the station has 36 platforms and over 200 exits).

It’s not hard to find coffee here; there are coffee shops and cafes around every corner. But how about good coffee? Or even great coffee?

Head over to the station’s southside, in the ground floor of the NeWoMan mall, and you will find the latest outpost of Blue Bottle Coffee, that stalwart of the American third wave coffee invasion. Lighter in ambience than its sibling outlets — some would argue almost sparse — the Shinjuku cafe offers the same high quality of espresso and filter coffees.

Not a bad stopover for a caffeine fix when you’re journeying from one part of Tokyo to the next. You might well find yourself lingering longer than you planned…